This French translation of Nippon O-dai ichiran, or Chronology of Japanese rulers, was the first full translation of a Japanese book other than a dictionary to be published in a European language. Isaac Titsingh served fourteen years in the east with the Dutch East India Company at Nagasaki, and was provided with an oral Dutch translation from the Japanese by the three Japanese interpretersemployed by the VOC. Klaproth added a supplement covering the period 1611 to 1834 after Titsingh's death.